• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.265-275
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• 2020

This narrative inquiry examines the experience of mentally ill patients who used the psychiatric day hospital care service. The researchers in this inquiry conducted in-depth interviews three times with four patients who used day hospital care and data was also collected from additional conversations when patients were on outpatient visit after being discharged from the day hospital. The inquiry uses the narrative research method to describe the experience of using day hospital services as follows; a springboard to reconnect to the world, a place to be empowered and set the mind at ease, and a guide to direction in life. This inquiry is meaningful in that it deals with the in-depth stories of the mentally ill patients who experienced the day hospital care. Based on the results of the inquiry, the following policy suggestions are made; institutional support for reducing social isolation of psychiatric patients, activation of various support systems and further program development.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.116-124
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• 2018

Background: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of unrecognized depression in patients with chronic pain, but with no history of psychiatric diseases. Methods: Patients with chronic pain who did not have a history of psychiatric disease were selected for this study. The Beck Depression Index (BDI) was used to evaluate depression. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics and pain-related characteristics were also recorded. Results: The study included 94 consecutive patients with chronic pain (28 men and 66 women). Based on the BDI scores, 33/94 (35.1%) patients with chronic pain had comorbid depression. The prevalence of depression was significantly higher in our cohort than it was in the general population (P < 0.001). The standardized incidence ratio, adjusted for age and sex, was 2.77 in men and 2.60 in women. Patients who were unmarried (odds ratio [OR] = 3.714, P = 0.044), and who had subjective sleep disturbance (OR = 8.885, P < 0.001), were more likely to have moderate to severe depression. Patients with high education levels (OR = 0.244, P = 0.016), and who were economically active (OR = 0.284, P = 0.023), were less likely to have moderate to severe depression. Conclusions: Our results indicate that unrecognized depression in patients with chronic pain is common. Therefore, pain physicians should actively seek to identify these problems rather than relying on the patient to volunteer such information.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2006

Object : Since autonomic nerve system dysfunction was known as the mechanism of panic disorder, many researchers used heart rate variability (HRV) as means of measuring autonomic nerve function of patients with panic disorder. We aimed to examine the effect of paroxetine medication for 3 months on symptom improvement and change of heart rate variability of the patients with panic disorder. Methods : The subjects were patients with panic disorder who visited the psychiatric outpatient clinic of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. We included panic disorder patients who were aged from 20 to 50 and in normal BMI range (from 18 to 30) to minimize the effect of age and weight on HRV data. We excluded the patients with EKG abnormalities, hypertension or other major psychiatric disorders. They took 20-40 mg paroxetine medication a day for 3 months. Alprazolam was used only during the first month to control the acute panic symptoms and was tapered off after that. We measured the acute panic inventory (API), Hamilton rating scale for anxiety and depression (HAM-A & HAM-D), Spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory (STAIS, STAIT), and Beck depression inventory (BDI) in order to assess clinical improvement of the patients. And we measured time and frequency domain HRV in the resting, standing and cognitive stress states to assess the change of HRV. All measurements were done before and after paroxetine treatment. Result : After paroxetine medication, patients showed significant improvement in all psychiatric scales. In time domain of HRV, standard deviations of all R-R intervals (SDNN) were significantly increased in all states. In frequency domain of HRV, the ratio of high frequency to total power (HF/TP) in the standing state was significantly increased. Conclusion : After 3 months paroxetine medication, panic disorder patients showed significant clinical improvement and change in HRV data such as SDNN in all states and HF/TP ratio in the standing state. This result suggests that paroxetine medication is effective for the improvement of autonomic nerve system dysfunction in panic disorder patients.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.66-73
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• 2011

Objectives:The present study investigates the status of inpatient psychiatric consultations at a general hospital in order to find factors that contribute to treatment compliance related to psychiatric consultations. Methods:The subjects were 333 patients who were hospitalized at Korea University Medical Center Ansan Hospital from 1 September 2009 to 31 July 2010.The patients were referred for psychiatric consultation during hospitalization. This study investigates demographic data, request department, referral causes, requestor, psychiatric history and diagnosis, andpsychiatric treatment compliance. Treatment compliance was defined as whether or not the patient had accepted psychiatric treatment during hospitalization or outpatient department(OPD) follow-up. This study ascertains the factors that have impact on compliance, by taking binary logistic regression with compliance and other variables. Results:Among the patients that were offered psychiatric treatment during hospitalization(N=310), treatment compliance was 82.9%. Among the patients that were offered OPD treatment(N=111), compliance was 55.8%. Elderly group(>65 years) showed better compliance to treatment during hospitalization than the younger patient group(OR=4.838, p=0.004). Patients with secondary psychiatric disorders showed better OPD follow-up compliance than patients with secondary psychiatric disorders(OR=8.520, p=.008). Conclusion:Elderly patients showed better compliance for psychiatric treatment during hospitalization. However they commonly have disorders such as delirium and mood disorders that have impact on the patient's physical state, hence further active measures should be carried out. Patients referred due to primary psychiatric disorders showed poor OPD compliance. Therefore clinicians have to suggest multidisciplinary interventions that will improve treatment compliance of such patients.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-80
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• 2018

Since the 1960s, the United States' (U.S.) deinstitutionalization policy has reinstated people with mental illness into communities. Unfortunately, when untreated, some people with psychiatric disorders become homeless, and some commit serious crimes during a psychological crisis. Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), also known as Kendra's Law in New York and Laura's Law in California, provides treatment, services and support to people with mental illness in the community. AOT has repeatedly been found effective and is recognized as an evidence-based practice. The response to the mental health crisis (crisis intervention) in the U.S. has also been successful in preventing worsening mental illness and related criminality and other issues. This paper provides an opportunity to create a platform from which to learn how to successfully apply the AOT and crisis intervention of the U.S. to South Korea within the cultural and societal context when establishing social services for people with mental illness in South Korea's communities.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.219-231
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• 2010

Objectives : School refusal is usually considered as individual's behavioral problem. These days. however. the adolescents' school refusal needs some kind of medical approaches because it is related to mental disorder of the adolescents. Due to too much pressure and stress from the competition between classmates and from good performance in school. the number of adolescents who refuse to go to school is increasing. Despite this circumstance. school refusal is neither regarded as a single independent disorder nor endorsed as an officially classified disease. which makes difficult to conduct research on this issue and to establish standardized treatment for it. In addition. there is a lack of research on this topic. especially in oriental medicine. so there is no a case report or study on school refusal. This study is trying to comment on school refusal from the perspective of oriental medicine. Methods : We tried to examine the effect of oriental medicine treatment for school refusal with four adolescent cases. The patients commonly have at least more than one mental disorder (including depression disorder. anxiety disorder. and anorexia nervosa). have some problem with the relationship with their family. in particular with mother. do not have father or not be loved by their father. and have irregular eating habits. Thus. we diagnosed them as qi transforming into fire (氣鬱化矢) spleen-stomach deficiency cold (脾胃虛寒) and heart blood deficiency (心血虛) due to stress from the family issues and unhealthy eating habits. The patients received supportive therapy. family therapy. etc among many oriental mental treatments and their progress had been observed through hospitalization and outpatient treatment. Results : All four cases were reported positive progress on their symptoms and started coming back to school. We also examined whether they were well fitting into the school while they received outpatient treatment. and the results show that all four patients continue to settle down in normal school life. Conclusions : This study closely reviewed the mental disorder of school refusal cases and showed that the Oriental medical treatment was effective in helping the patients come back to school. More future research is required to better treatment for school refusal cases in oriental medicine.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.115-122
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• 1995

This study was performed to know the relationship between neurologic soft signs (NSS) and clinical variables such as psychopathology. history of illness, and premorbid social adjustment in patients with schizophrenia. The authors evaluated NSS in 31 patients with schizophrenia using the structured tool for measuring neurologic abnormalities, Neurological Evaluation Scale- Korean Version(NES-K). Relationships between NSS and clinical variables such as duration of illness, intensity of precipitating stressors, duration of outpatient treatment, schooling, peer relationship, total duration of unemployment, total days of psychiatric admission, age, total days of being medicated, age at the first psychiatric admission, frequency of admissions, content of treatment, social adjustment, and severity of symptoms were analyzed. Differences between paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenics were examined. In addition, Differences between patients with schizophrenia who have predominant positive symptoms and who have predominant negative symptoms were examined too. Total scores of NES-K were correlated with lower schooling (${\gamma}$=0.44, p<0.01). Scores of motor coordination subcategory were correlated with poor peer relationship(${\gamma}$=0.67, p<0.001). Other clinical variables were not correlated with any scores of NES-K. Paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenics were not different in scores of NES-K. Also positive and negative schizophrenics were not different in scores of NES-K. Most clinical variables except schooling and peer relationship were not related with NSS. This results indicated that the meaning of these signs was not fully be understood. Introduction of the new classification concepts such as deficit or non-deficit syndrome will be helpful to elucidate the meaning of NSS in patients with schizophrenia.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.250-255
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• 2020

Background Rosenthal et al. classified female, habitual, non-suicidal wrist cutters as a group and introduced the concept of wrist-cutting syndrome. We investigated the characteristics of wrist-cutting patients at our institution in comparison with results reported previously. Methods We conducted a retrospective study involving 115 patients who had cut their wrists and been examined at the emergency department of a single hospital in Seoul, Korea, between March 2014 and August 2018. Results There were more women (73 patients; 63.5%) than men (42 patients; 36.5%), and the women (mean age, 34.42 years) were significantly younger than the men (mean age, 50.07 years). The patients who had cut their wrists repeatedly were mainly women (22 of 26 patients; 84.6%); however, men caused more severe damage than women. Substance use before a suicide attempt did not significantly increase the severity of wrist cutting. Our institution planned and implemented a suicide prevention intervention program to improve the continuity of outpatient care. The number of patients who continued psychiatric treatment increased significantly after program completion. Conclusions We confirmed that most patients were young women who were not suicidal in the true sense because their wounds were not severe. Our study showed a protective role of the barrier tendons (flexor carpi radialis, palmaris longus, flexor carpi ulnaris), and we suggest careful repair of the barrier tendons to protect neurovascular structures against subsequent cutting events. We found that it was possible to improve the continuity of patient counseling by managing patients through a psychiatric treatment program.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.93-103
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• 2002

The aim of this study is to examine the diagnostic profiles and related clinical variables of children with attention and hyperactivity in psychiatric outpatient clinic. Seventy one children with age range of 5 to 14 were diagnosed by DSM-IV, and assessment battery including KEDI-WISC, KPI-C, ADS(ADHD Diagnostic System) were completed. The subjects were divided into 3 diagnostic groups：ADHD only(n=17), ADHD comorbid(n=27), Other diagnosis(n=27). The results were as follows：In ADHD comorbid group, tic disorder, developmental language disorder, borderline intellectual function, oppositional defiant/conduct disorder, and learning disorder were combined in descending order. Other diagnosis group consisted of tic disorder, borderline intellectual function, depression/anxiety, oppositional defiant/conduct disorder, and others. There were significant differences in IQ, PIQ, and VIQ among the three groups, and ADHD only group showed higher scores of IQ and VIQ than ADHD comorbid group. On the KPI-C, there were no significant differences in all subscales among the three groups. On the visual ADS, omission error and sensitivity showed significant differences among the three groups, and ADHD comorbid group represented higher omission error and lower sensitivity than other diagnostic group. The findings indicated that the inattention and hyperactivity symptoms could be diagnosed into diverse psychiatric disorders in child psychiatry, and ADHD children with comorbidity will show more problems in academic performance and school adjustment.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.14-22
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• 1996

This study aims to look at main problems of visiting the clinic, diagnoses and other related factors of outpatients in a private psychiatric clinic f3r children and adolescents located in Seoul. The analyses were based on the reports of 2,785 patients who were 18 years old and less, and visited the clinic during last 4 years. The results showed that the ratio of boys to girls was 2.7 to 1, and about 64% of the whole sample were 6 years old and less. Especially the percentage of patients aged 3 and less was the highest and that of schoolage and more was gradually reduced. The average number of siblings was 195 and the percentage of the first child in a family was the highest. Particularly, there were more boys in rase of one child families and more girls in case of families with 3 children and more. The chief problems were mainly language-deficit, hyperactivity, autistic behaviour, tic, aggressive behavior and academic problem. The higher frequency of diagnoses was in the order of parent-child problem, mental retardation, developmental language disorder, reactive attachment disorder, other emotional disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder. The more frequently used method fir treatments was in the sequence of psychotherapy, play therapy, parental counseling, occupational therapy and speech therapy. The results from this study were compared with those from other studies and discussed.